The Walking Dead Season 2: A Fresh Face
by ThomasGreene
Summary: WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 2 What if someone else arrived to the house on the lake before Clem's Group did? What if he stayed the night and the next morning woke to the sounds of gunshots and shouting? Will this mysterious figure be enough to save both Clem AND Luke? Will this new character effect the ending of Season 2? I do not own anything Walking Dead
1. Chapter 1

22 year old Dean Walters stumbled around in the cold, snowy forest around him. He rubbed his hands together in an effort to keep them warm, wishing he had gloves along with the correct boots to move along in this thick snow. His footsteps kept sinking into the snow at every step he took. As he rose his foot, trying to take another step, it got caught a root under the snow. He stumbled, falling face-first into the 4 inch snow. After a few moments of waving his arms to regain his balance, He raised himself off the snowy ground. Wiping off his now-snow-covered face, he was able to see an abandoned building on the horizon. Climbing a tree to get a better view, he pulled out his black-blue binoculars from his dark green backpack (it had originally been a brighter shade, but to make it harder for the eyes of strangers to find him, he had covered it with mud and Walker guts to give it more of a camo color than anything.) Looking through his binoculars, he was able to confirm that this was the abandoned building he had been seeking out for the last couple of days. Seeing that it was already noon, Dean knew he had to hurry to the building if he was going to make it before sundown. Before he climbed down, he made sure to put his binoculars into his backpack, for he could not risk them falling to the ground and breaking. Seeing that they were secure, he slowly made his way down the evergreen tree: The only thing worse than breaking his binoculars would be breaking his leg. Just as he had finished his thought, his brown leather jacket got snagged on a broken branch jutting from the trees trunk. Pulling out his father's trusty hatchet, he made sure he was secure enough in the tree before he began to chop, knowing that it would have been way too dangerous to try and untangle himself from the branch without a high risk of falling. After a few hard swings of the hatchet, the branch had finally detached itself from the evergreen tree's trunk, and with it, his jacket. Finally able to freely move about, Dean continued his decent of the tree, reaching the bottom a few seconds later without any other complications. Running his hand through his bark brown hair, he realized that he may never get used to climbing trees, not that he really wanted to anyways, not after what had happened with his younger sister, Gwen. The memory still played out in the back of his mind.

_"Be careful! If you think you might fall you come right back down, you hear me Gwen? Gwen!?"_

_ After a moments silence, Gwen spoke up saying "Yes, yes, I know the drill Dean, you don't have to worry 'bout me so much."_

_ "Now you know that's a load of bullshit, I always have to worry about my little sister," Dean smirked._

_ "Ugh, whatever you say Dean, I'll be back down soon enough, just let me get the lay of the land."_

However, Gwen came down faster than she anticipated. Not really paying attention, Gwen had placed her foot onto one of the tree's weaker branches. Thinking that the branch was sturdy, Gwen lifted her lower leg, causing most, if not all of her weight, to be shifted to the foot that was on the weak branch.

_SNAP_

_"GWEN!"_

The branch underneath Gwen had broken, leaving her dangling by just her arms, with no other branches in the reach of her legs.

"_I-I'm ok Dean," Gwen said trying to reassure her brother, who was beginning to break out in cold sweats 6 feet below her. That's when the branches she had a hold of started making snapping noises. The next thing she knew, she was falling down, down through the canopy of the tree, hitting every branch along the way._

_ "Oh my god. Gwen? GWEN!?" Dean shouted as he ran towards his sister, who was laying awkwardly on the ground, her blood slowly bubbling up and out of her mouth. Dean, grabbing ahold of his sisters brown leather jacket, started shaking her franticly._

_ "Gwen! Wake up! Gwen!" But he knew it was far too late, she was already gone._

* * *

><p>Shaking his head of the memory, Dean continued onward towards the abandoned building. Gwen would want him to keep moving, Dean thought as he pulled his sister's jacket closer for warmth. With any luck, he would make it to the building in the next 4-5 hours.<p>

* * *

><p>Finally arriving at the house, a physically and mentally exhausted Dean wandered into the yard around the building, which he now realized was a house with an unfinished roof.<p>

"Better than sleeping out in the cold again," Dean said with a smirk on his face as he walked closer to the house near the lake. Taking in his surroundings, he saw some heavy construction equipment and a truck that probably won't ever start working. He also took in that it was getting colder, so he made his way inside where he found a nice fireplace next to a sofa. He was half tempted to just plop onto the sofa right then and there, but he knew life wasn't that simple anymore. Pulling his backpack off his back, he crouched and opened it, grabbing hit hatchet out of the front pocket, where he always left it. Putting the backpack over his shoulder once more, he began to check every single room for Walkers or worse, _other people. _Luckily, all of the rooms he checked were clear, but the downside was that there weren't any supplies in them either.

Arriving at the last room he had yet to check, he took a deep breath, readying himself for what might come. Without second thought, he quickly opened the door, readying his hatchet just in case he needed to chop a Walkers head off. Inside he found no Walkers, but instead two duffel bags. Wondering what was inside, Dean walked over to the dark green bags. Fiddling around with the zipper of the duffel bag closest to him, he noticed that it was jammed. Not wanting to risk breaking whatever was inside, he put away his hatchet and pulled out his pocket knife. Slicing it open from the right side, the bag's contents were revealed. "Oh my god," Dean said with amazement. He couldn't believe what he saw; finally, Lady Luck had shone down upon him. The bag was filled with canned goods! Quickly moving on to the next duffel bag, he tried the zipper first, which had worked this time. Taking a look inside, Dean saw so much medicine; he didn't even know how he could even use all of this, but it was still an amazing find. Then Dean realized that something was wrong. Where were the original owners? No sane person would ever leave this amount of supplies behind, unless…

Unless they suffered the same fate as his last group. He missed them all so much, from Samantha and her stupid laugh to Bill and his corny jokes. Clearing the sad memory from his mind, he pulled out a can of baked beans. Moving downstairs and into the room that would have been the Living room, he placed the can on the nearest coffee table and looked around to see if there was some firewood nearby. After a few minutes of searching, he found out where the previous group had stashed the wood: inside this big blue tub near the door. After carefully placing the firewood into the fireplace, he rummaged in his backpack for his lighter and the newspaper he always tried to carry with him. Then Dean realized that with this amount of firewood, the flames would generate too much smoke, which would draw the attention of strangers. Being all alone, that's not really what Dean wanted at the moment. Pulling out enough wood to leave two in the fireplace, he put the rest back where he found them. Once again moving back to the fireplace, he picked up his lighter and ignited the newspaper. After a few seconds, the paper caught on fire. Placing this underneath the firewood, he sat and watched to make sure he had enough fuel for the fire to start. Luckily he did and the fire started without a hitch. Picking up the can of beans from the coffee table, he cut open the top with his pocket knife, and then preceded to poor the beans into his small cooking pot. It was the perfect size to fit in almost anywhere, especially inside his backpack. Sitting the now filled cooking pot on the rack inside the fireplace, he decided that he should do a supply check while he waited for the food to be finished. Looking through his backpack he made a mental note of everything that was stored inside. He still had some newspaper left, which was good since he didn't find any lying about the house. Placing his lighter back inside so he didn't forget it, he realized that he should probably stir the beans really quick before he continued. Digging through his backpack, he finally managed to find his spoon, which always seemed to be at the bottom. Being careful as to not touch the outside of the pot, he stirred his dinner. After that was done, he placed the spoon on a scrap of newspaper to make sure it didn't get dirty. Moving back to his backpack, he pulled out the picture of his father.

Dean had never known his mother, who had left after he was born, but he and his father had been like best friends. On the day of the outbreak, his dad had been out of town on a business trip, and was supposed to come back after 4 days. Even though he never made it back, Dean still held onto the hope that his father was still alive. That was, until, he noticed his dad's car in the middle of the street. He had gotten back sooner than he had expected, which turned out to be the death of him. In the midst of the chaos, somebody swerved and head on collided with his dad, killing him instantly. Only, his dad wasn't dead when Dean showed up to the scene. He hadn't been strong enough to put his father out of his misery then, but now Dean wished he had been. Ever since then, Dean has had nightmares about his father wandering the countryside as a Walker, enduring eternal pain and suffering.

Dean took one last glance of the picture before returning it to his backpack with sadness in his eyes. Remembering his father wouldn't help him in his current situation. Realizing that he hadn't stirred the beans in quite a while, Dean zipped up his backpack and placed it aside. Quickly moving towards the beans, he noticed that they were beginning to burn, so he pulled the pot off the rack and set it down on the floor while he stirred it with his trusty spoon. After a few minutes, the beans had cooled off enough for him to start eating them. Without wasting another second, he began to dig in, devouring the whole meal in only 2-3 minutes. He hadn't realized how hungry he had been, but not eating for 2 days can do that to a person. It was after he was finished that he decided to clean off his cookware.

Opening the door to the outside, he hadn't noticed that the sun had already set. Not wanting to be out in the dark for too long, he quickly scooped up some snow and placed it in his pot along with the spoon. Just as he was about to turn around he heard a sound. It sounded like a low snarly growl. "WALKER!" Dean though as he heard the sound, realizing how close it actually was to him. He turned around quickly, his mind racing, looking franticly for his father's hatchet. "Oh shit," Dean said aloud as he realized he left his hatchet inside the house. Not knowing what else he could do besides letting the Walker bite him, which certainly wasn't an option, he grabbed the pan tightly in his hand, waiting for the right moment. Just as the Walker lunged and Dean, he did a quick strafe to the right, causing the Walker to grab nothing but a cushion of snow. Quickly reacting, deal brought the pot down hard on the back of the Walkers skull, shooting snow everywhere, and making a satisfying smash as the walkers head split open. After a few seconds of hushed silence, the Walker made a weak but noticeable groan. That's when Dean started to stomp on its skull, harder and harder after every consecutive hit. After Dean was done with it, all that was left was what looked to be a bowl of Walker brains.

Inspecting himself for injuries, he looked himself up and down, not finding anything out of the ordinary. It was then that he realized the amount of blood that was on his pot, so he rubbed it off in the snow next to his feet. After this was done, he looked around for any more Walkers, which he was happy to find none of. That's when Dean knelt down so he could refill the pot with snow. Proceeding back into his house again, Dean found himself even more exhausted than he had been before. Closing the door behind him, Dean walked lazily over to his backpack where he pulled out his hatchet and pillow, sitting them on the sofa. Moving back over to the fire, he noticed it was beginning to burn down, so he grabbed himself another log and placed it gently in the fireplace, watching it for a while, making sure it started burning. After the new log caught fire, he placed his pot on the rack once more, so the snow could melt and make the water needed for cleaning the pot in the morning. Realizing that his placement of the pot should be good enough, he moved over to the sofa and laid down, placing his head on his pillow and closing his eyes. "Hopefully tonight will go smoothly, God knows I need a good night's rest," Dean thought as he lay there drifting off. Tomorrow he will continue on his way to find Wellington, a sanctuary that Samantha had told him about. But for now, he needed his sleep. After what felt like ages (but was really only 5 minutes), Dean fell asleep.

_But he woke up 12 hours later to the sound of gunshots and frantic yelling.  
><em>


	2. Chapter 2: The Great Rescue

Dean's eyes flew open, as he heard the multiple gunshots being fired from what heard to be from his house's front doors. His hands instantly wrapped around the handle of his hatchet that he had been hiding under his pillow over the night. Swinging himself off the sofa in a matter of seconds, he turned and faced the window, his hand tightly clutching the hatchet, turning his knuckles white from the pressure. What he saw shocked him. He saw a very angry bearded man with an orange ball-cap and a covered up eye yelling at a very scared kid with a full-leg brace. A tall, bald black man was standing next to them looking very concerned and maybe a tiny bit frightened. Out on the frozen lake, he noticed what appeared to be two women, one obviously older than the other. The older one was yelling at the younger girl to probably help their friend, who had managed to break the ice and get himself waist deep in the ice cold water. That's when he heard another gunshot, coming from the older woman, who was firing at a pretty decent sized Walker cluster. Realizing that he had to help them, Dean ran over to the door, dropping his hatchet on the sofa.

Swinging open the door, multiple heads turned to lay their eyes on him. That's when the bearded man gave him what appeared to be a glare to end all death stares. "AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" The bearded man yelled as he pulled out a pistol from his back. Not wanting to die just yet, Dean raised his hands in alarm just as the black man grabbed the gun from the bearded man's hands, saying "You can't just go 'round pointing your gun at every stranger you see Kenny!" The bearded man who must have been known as Kenny retorted back, "Shut the fuck up, Mike!" That's when the little girl yelled at the older woman, "Bonnie! The Walkers are getting closer to Luke!" The red haired woman known as Bonnie muttered something under her breath before quickly bringing her attention back to the Walkers, hitting the one closest to the man in the water, killing it instantly. "Go help Luke, Clementine! You're light! You can-" She was interrupted by Luke who said "NO CLEM! DON"T! Just cover me, I-I can get out myself, just cover me to give me more time!" The younger girl named Clementine made the decision to try and pull Luke out of the water, which is probably the opposite of what Dean would have done, because moments later the rest of the ice broke, bringing both of them down under the ice.

This caused multiple shouts of "Clem!" and "Luke!" One source being from a woman with short hair that he hadn't seen before he had opened the door. Kenny turned around, now looking at what had happened, and then yelled "JANE GODDAMMIT DO SOMETHING!" The short-haired lady turned and was about to say something before Dean interrupted bluntly with "Let me help! I'm a really good swimmer!" Kenny turned back to Dean and said, "No way, no FUCKING way I'm going to hand the safety of MY group to SOME STRANGER IN A CHEAP-ASS BROWN LEATHER JACKET!" Dean, ignoring the comment about his dead sister's jacket, simply stated, "If you ever trusted anyone before, you'd do best to trust me RIGHT NOW, or else your little girl is going to drown to death!"

_For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of Bonnies gunshots and the moans the walkers generated._

Kenny squinted his one good eye, realizing that he really didn't trust anyone in his group besides himself to take care of Clementine. So what difference would it make if this stranger went in? Even if he died, he probably had supplies inside the house left, which his group really needed. "Fine," Kenny said with slight irritation in his voice, "but if anything happens to that little girl, I will FUCKING END YOU! You hear me!? Well?! What are you waiting for?! GO DAMMIT!"

Dean took off in a full on sprint down the frozen lake, quickly pulling off his leather jacket, revealing his white t-shirt from underneath. Not breaking pace, he jumped before arriving at the hole in the ice, allowing for a perfect dive into the water.

Fully submerged underwater, Dean instantly felt the coldness of the water. Quickly looking side to side, he tried to find out the location of the two bodies. At his left he saw the little girl known as Clementine, pounding on the bottom of the ice. Dean hadn't seen Luke, however, so he instantly started towards Clementine. Realizing him for the first time, Clem had a stunned look of confusion cross her face, which quickly turned to panic. Before she had the chance to swim away however, Dean was already grabbing her by the hips, pulling her towards the hole in the ice. No matter how much she resisted, Clementine couldn't manage to get free, which was good news for Dean. Arriving at the hole in the ice, Dean hugged Clementine tightly, swiftly swimming to the surface.

Finally able to breathe, Dean took a huge breath of air as he emerged from the water, as did Clementine. Luckily, Jane was there waiting, and she pulled Clementine out of Dean's icy grip. Jane started to take her towards the rest of her group, which is when Clementine softly said, "L-Luke…Ge-Get Luke!" Dean did a curt nod, knowing he was not able to speak correctly because of the chilling waters. Taking one final breath, he once again submerged into the depths of the cold lake. Not before he noticed the look of relief cross Kenny's face, which was quickly replaced with the blueness of the water.

This time he had one goal on his mind, Find Luke, and quickly too, otherwise lack of oxygen and coldness would kill them both, if it hadn't already. That's when he noticed a figure lurking just at the end of his field of vision. Turning his head to the right, he saw the man known as Luke, being pulled down by someone- no SOMETHING else, a Walker. Dean quickly swam over to Luke, who was struggling greatly with the Walker, and he looked as though he was about to pass out from holding his breath for so long. Arriving near Luke, Dean started to pull at the Walker's arm, which didn't seem to want to let go. That was when Luke noticed him and had a pleading look in his eyes. Now Dean's adrenaline was pumping, and he made one final tug at the Walkers arm, with enough force that it was ripped right off the Walkers torso. Dean stole a quick glance at Luke, who wasn't looking the greatest. Smirking, Dean realized he probably looked just as bad. He grabbed Luke's arm and started leading him to the water's surface.

Finally reaching the top, Dean took in fresh air into his lungs, feeling the long help up pressure being released. He looked over to Luke, who was already being pulled out by Bonnie. Dean noticed that Luke lips were a bluish-purple shade, as they should be. His were probably the same color. That's when Mike came over and carefully helped Dean out of the water.

* * *

><p>"Damn dude, you must be part fish or something, for a while there; we thought you both were dead…" Mike said with a hint of worry in his eyes. "Th-thanks… but right-t n-now, w-we need to get in-in-side," Dean stuttered. "I h-have a f-fire started." Mike just nodded and continued moving forward, supporting Dean whenever it was needed. After a short minute, all eight of them arrived at the door, the kid with the leg brace being help at gun-point by Kenny, who asked "Anyone else with you?" Knowing this question was directed at him, Dean responded with a shake of his head. His group hadn't been with him since the horde. "Good." Kenny said as he put his gun back in the back of his pants. It was then that Dean noticed Kenny was carrying something in his left arm, very protectively. Dean's eyes widened in surprise, he hadn't seen a baby since before the outbreak. Kenny, ignoring the stares Alvin Jr. was getting from Dean, pushed open the door, then promptly propelling the kid with the leg brace into the building. Obviously the cripple wasn't with them, and Dean hoped that he wouldn't be getting the same treatment in a few moments.<p>

Funneling into the warm living room, everyone immediately gravitated towards the fireplace, which was about to burn out. Grabbing a log that she found a lot quicker than Dean had, Jane carried both it and Clementine to the fireplace, saying how she was going to freeze to death. After Jane had placed both the log and Clementine into their respective places, Dean followed over to the fire and sat next to Luke, who was to the left of Clementine. The both looked over to Dean, and gave him the warmest smile they could with their purple lips. It did little to alleviate the suspense that hung thickly in the air. Everyone was looking at the crippled kid with a leg brace. Kenny was giving him the stare he had giving Dean, except with more danger showing behind his Brown eyes. That's when Kenny shouted "This is YOUR FUCKING FAULT!" and descended upon the kid, punching him in the face. That's when the kid said something in a foreign language (which sounded like Russian to Dean, but he wasn't so sure). "English, Asshole," Kenny replied. That's when the kid looked him dead in the eye and said "Fuck… You." Kenny's anger boiling over, responded with yet another one of his murderous stares and said "Why you little shit." That's when everything started happening at once. Kenny was furiously punching the poor kid in the face, while everyone in the room was telling him to stop. Clementine, who had been warming herself by the fire this whole time, stood up, reaching out to Kenny.

Clementine got ahold of Kenny's elbow, which came back to hit her in the nose. There was a pause of stunned silence as Kenny turned around, his gaze softening as soon as he saw Clementine and realized what he did. "P-please! Just, just STOP!" She pleaded. That's when Jane entered the room, which was funny to Dean because he never noticed he slip out. She threw a can at Kenny's legs and said "There is a bag filled with others just like these, Arvo WASN'T lying!" Shit, Dean thought, she found the supplies. Kenny, who was still in a pissy mood, responded with "Tell me, how is a can of FUCKING chili going to help anybody?" Jane didn't take to kindly to that response, and retorted with a snide comment of her own, "How is beating the poor kid to death going to HELP ANYBODY?!" That's when Kenny decided he had enough, glancing over from Jane to Dean, and then to Arvo, he said "I'm tyin' 'im up." "Fine, whatever," Jane replied.

Dean, wondering who he meant, shifted slightly at where he sat. Kenny, still very aware, even with his missing eye looked at him and made a smirk. "No, not you, this shithead," he said as he tilted his head towards Arvo, "I'm gonna have a nice little chat with ya." Dean wasn't too sure on how to feel; should he be greatful that he wasn't going to be tied up? Or should he be in fear for his life? He didn't know what Kenny meant by "a little chat" but after seeing what had happened to Arvo, Dean wasn't in too much of a hurry to find out. "Luke, you sit right there and warm up with the others, shout if something happens," Kenny said taking a quick suspicious glance at Dean before looking back to Luke. "I wasn't plannin' on movin' anyways Kenny," Luke said. Kenny, who was satisfied with this response turned to look at what was in the duffel bags. Luke turned to Clementine and said something that Dean couldn't quite hear, but it must have been get some rest, because she nodded and laid down shortly after, but not before she took of her drenched jacket. Which reminded Dean, who then asked "Did anyone by chance pick up my Leather jacket?" Bonnie replied with a curt No and said she would go and get it. She arrived not even a minute later with it in her arms, handing it over to Dean who gave her his most sincere thanks, and then went back to warming himself by the fire. After a few more minutes of this, Dean realized that he was exhausted from his little rescue at the lake. Deciding to catch a few z's, Dean positioned himself in a comfortable way, and then shut his eyes, falling to sleep quickly, just like he had last night.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, uh, Dean?" Dean heard someone say as he felt something nudge him slightly. Still half asleep, all Dean could muster was a small, irritated grunt. He wasn't so lightly nudged the next time. "Hey! Sleeping Beauty! Wake up, I'd like to talk ta ya," he heard the same voice as before say as Dean felt something like a kick hit his right thigh, causing Dean's eyes to shoot open and his hands to instantly reach for the hatchet that wasn't there. "Whoa! Lay off the caffeine kid!" Dean looked up from the floor to the man who was talking to him, Kenny. "Anyone ever tell you that you sleep like a rock? Not the best thing these days, sadly," Kenny said as he offered his hand to help Dean up from off the dusty ground. Dean willingly took the help, which he needed more than he realized. As soon as he was standing up, Dean felt stiffness in his neck and back, which was too be expected he supposed.

Popping his neck, Dean waited for Kenny to say what he wanted. "Kid, we should talk in private, follow me." Dean simply nodded, not only to agree, but to see if his neck needed any more pops, which luckily, it didn't. Kenny smiled and led him into the room where Dean first found the two duffel bags. However, the room now had two kitchen table chairs sitting in the middle of it, facing each other. This made Dean very uncomfortable, what was Kenny going to do? Was he going to interrogate him? Or maybe beat him, just like he did Arvo. Kenny, who had sat down about 5 seconds ago, motioned to Dean to sit, who was still standing in the doorway somewhat awkwardly. Dean, snapping himself out of his trance, shook his head quickly while on his way to the chair. Sitting down hesitantly, Kenny looked like he was sizing him up, which made dean even more anxious than he was before.

"Calm down kid, I ain't gonna hurt ya," Kenny said with a chuckle. This is when Dean noticed he was sweating something fierce, making him less comfortable. Relaxing a little, Dean said "So, uh, you wanted to talk to me Kenny?" Kenny just looked at Dean, who was beginning to think that he had said something wrong. A few moments later, Kenny made a smirk and said sarcastically "Nah, I just woke you up 'cause I felt like losing myself in your baby blue eyes." Dean's mind took a few seconds to register that this was meant as a joke and laughed awkwardly, not wanting to be rude to the man that could kill him at any moment. "So, what'd you want to talk to me about?" Dean stated, curious as to why these guys were still here, when they could have taken all of his supplies and left by now. "Now hold on one second," Kenny said roughly "You know my name already, but I don't have the honor of knowing yours yet. Mind telling me?" This brought it to Dean's attention that he hadn't introduced himself to anyone in this group yet, so Dean stated "Dean, Dean Walters" Holding his hand out for a handshake, Kenny took his offer, smiled and said "Pleasure to meet ya Dean, as you know, my name is Kenny, and I brought you in here so I could personally say thanks for saving Clem and Luke's life, though I feel like a simple 'thank you' isn't enough to repay you for your service."

Dean's eyes widened for a few seconds, then returned back to normal. He smiled and said "It was nothing, really." That's when Kenny's voice boomed as he glared at him and said "Bullshit. You risked your own life for two other people, who probably would have died if you hadn't been there. That's a rare quality in people these days it seems, everyone is always out to save their own skin." Calming back down, Kenny continued in a much softer voice than before, obviously trying to hide the pain from something that happened before. "The only real way I can thank you is inviting you into our group, which I already talked it over with the others, and most of them said yes." Dean tilted his head, cocked an eyebrow and said "Most? Listen Kenny, if you guys don't want me with you, that's fine, I'm completely capable of surviving alone. I don't want to burden the members of your group with my presence." Kenny gasped, "I don't doubt that you can survive on your own, elsewise you wouldn't have lived this long. You shouldn't worry about not being wanted here anyways, only one person disagreed with letting you in," Kenny said with a bright gleam in his eye, "and she normally has a stick up her ass anyways." Dean chuckled for a brief moment, finally relaxing. "Wary of strangers, is she? Can't really blame her, in these trying times," Dean replied with sadness in his voice. Strangers are what caused the death of some of him closest friends. Kenny noticed the sadness that coated Dean's voice and replied, "We've all lost someone because of strangers, one way or another." Dean and Kenny's eyes met and they stared at each other for the longest time, each trying to read the emotions behind the others eyes. Looking deeply, Dean was able to see long held back tears, and pain, _So much pain._ There was so much sadness in Kenny's eyes that it made Dean wanted to reach out and comfort him, but he restrained his impulses as he worked out his own emotions, trying to get ahold of himself. After a long silence, Kenny snapped back from staring off into space and simply said, "We are done for now ok? I need to think about something, you should probably go talk to the others." Kenny turned his chair around and made it face the window, closing himself off from conversation quite successfully. Dean knew what Kenny was going through, and not knowing how to help him, Dean showed himself out, looking for other members of the group to introduce himself too.

Tilting his head out into the doorframe, he looked around. Clem and Luke were still sleeping, Jane was making one can of food, Arvo was still tied up, and Bonnie and Mike were talking quietly to each other in the far left corner, away from everyone else. Dean had originally planned on talking to Arvo first, but as soon as he noticed Dean coming, Arvo gave him a stare that cut into Dean like knives. Feeling the same emotion he had felt when Kenny was pointing his gun at him, Dean threw his hands up and backed away slowly, walking towards Jane instead. Obviously Kenny hadn't talked to Arvo about his presence here.

"Hey." Dean said casually to the woman who seemed to be around his age. Jane turned her head and noticed who was speaking to her. She gave him a glare colder than the water he fell into. "Oh what are _you _still doing here? I thought I told Kenny to get rid of you." Not wanting to know what Jane meant by get rid of, Dean just blankly stared back at her, too shocked to respond. Clearing his throat, Dean began to talk. "Hello, my name is Dean, and it's a pleasure to meet you." He stuck out his hand just as he did for Kenny. Jane just looked at the outstretched and then back to Dean's eyes. "Kenny said he talked to you about recruiting me into your group," Dean said matter-of-factly, noticing that politeness just went out the window. "Yea and I told him how I felt about you, _a stranger._ The others said they want you here, so majority rules I guess," Jane said bitterly. "I hope you make yourself useful, otherwise you're just another mouth to feed." Dean's rage was set aflame by this comment. Did this _bitch JUST say that?_ Dean, realizing he had had enough, spoke up for himself. "Now you listen here, _I just risked my life for your friends' and I SAVED them, _so don't you DARE lecture to me about being an asset to your little army squadron, ok?" Dean thrust his finger into her face, causing her to pull her head back, obviously not expecting retaliation. "If you don't like me, that's fine, but I won't have you downplaying the value of my life, you got that? Now that THAT'S out in the open, it was nice meeting you too Jane." Dean angrily turned around and marched off towards Bonnie and Mike, leaving behind a very shocked and pissed off Jane.

Arriving at Bonnie and Mike, Dean recollected his emotions and put a smile on his face. "Sorry for interrupting, but Kenny told me I should come and talk to you guys." This got both Mike and Bonnie's attention and the turned with smiles on their face to look at Dean. Dean stuck his hand out and said, "Hi, my name is Dean Walters, pleasure to meet you, Bonnie and Mike." Dean gave them his best smile, which lead to Mike shaking Dean's hand. During the handshake Mike responded with "Likewise" and disengaged their hands. Bonnie spoke up, her voice filled with emotion, "I-I don't know how to thank you for saving Clem and Luke, I really don't, but we already talked to Kenny and he said that he wouldn't mind having you with us, and neither would we." Dean nodded, "Yeah, me and Kenny already talked about it, although," stealing a glance over his shoulder, he looked at Jane. She was making food for a now awake Clementine, who was staring at a still asleep Luke. "Some people don't like the idea of me staying," Dean said with aggravation in his voice. "Who? Jane? Nah, she's just being protective of Clementine, that's all, I'm sure she will warm up to you sooner or later, so don't worry yourself too much about it," Mike replied.

Bonnie must've noticed Clem being awake as well, because she had a look of relief in her eyes as she glanced in her direction. Looking back at Dean, she said "As much as Mike and I would like to chat with you, though, we have to go and look outside, see if we can find anything. Why don't you go and talk to Clem?" Dean understood, so he nodded in response and turned towards Clementine.

As he approached them, Jane stopped talking to Clementine and turned. Her face turned from a look of happiness to a scowl. "Later, Clem," Jane said as she handed her a can of beans. As she walked past Dean, she intentionally bumped into his shoulder while giving him yet another dirty look. Looking back at Jane, Dean was about to say something, then changed his mind, wanting to be the better person. So he turned back to Clem with a smile on his face.

Clementine gave a bright smile, and then looked towards Luke. "Thanks for saving us; I don't think Luke would be alive if you hadn't showed up, or me." She started scooping out little bites of beans from the can, not having anything else to use. Noticing her discomfort with this, Dean turned and found his backpack. Rummaging through it, he found his spoon at the bottom. Turning back to look at Clementine, he raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Would you, uh, like a spoon for that? Doesn't seem very _sanitary _to be eating with your hands these days." Clementine looked up at him, and gave him a look as if she were trying to figure out if there was something in it for him as well. Slowly nodding, Clementine sat the can of beans down next to her and reached for the spoon, which Dean handed to her without second thought.

"I'm Dean by the way, nice to meet you Clementine," Dean said as he zipped up his backpack again. That's when Kenny entered the room. "Hey, I need your help outside real quick, Dean." Dean looked up and nodded, standing up and walking towards his jacket which was now dry. Putting on his jacket, he noticed his hatchet sitting underneath the clothes hanger. Picking it up and putting it in its holster, he turned back towards Kenny, who nodded and started moving towards the back door. Dean followed him, out into the darkness of the night.


End file.
